Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Queens may claim oldest bar in city

The oldest gin joint in the city is located in the middle of a quiet Queens neighborhood, according to a borough historian.

Neir’s Tavern in Woodhaven opened in 1829, almost 30 years before the fabled McSorley’s Old Ale House was constructed, said Richard Hourahan of the Queens Historical Society.

Hourahan said he conducted the research with a Neir’s owner, Loycent Gordon, to try to sort out fact from fiction about city bars. They were also exploring whether Neir’s can be included on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was saved by the Sons of the Revolution of New York State in 1904. It had a major renovation to make it look like what they felt it was in the 18th century, but it was never knocked down or a parking lot.

"In 1832, 1837, and 1852, the building suffered serious fires. After each fire, the owner rebuilt and added modern additions. By the end of the 19th century the building bore little resemblance to the original structure."

"In 1905, William H. Mersereau, an architect from Staten Island, was hired to head the restoration. He did extensive research and site analysis, but could not locate any image of the building prior to the first fire, which had significantly changed its appearance. The final design was somewhat conjectural and highly influenced by the Colonial Revival movement."

Architects Norval White and Elliot Willensky wrote in 2000 that [Fraunces Tavern] was "a highly conjectural reconstruction – not a restoration – based on 'typical' buildings of 'the period,' parts of remaining walls, and a lot of guesswork."

I looked up this place's website. Just being old doesn't make it Historic. Ben Stiller filming there doesn't make it a landmark. Why on Earth try to make this some sort of phony historic site? I looked up who pays the property taxes, it is some corporation (and they are behind). Is this some cynical ploy to keep this place from going under?

I remember being at this old OLD bar next to the railroad tracks in Glendale one Christmas eve back in the 70s. Fun oddball looking place that looked like an old hotel, stagecoach rest or railroad workers whorehouse (as I was told). They had all sorts of stringed lights & lava lamps going. Lots of old beams, woodwork and columns.

Was it called "The Station" ? Perhaps somebody remembers but it looked older then Neirs and that German joint "The Brahouse" (spelling? ) up the street from the 104

"Brahouse" \Yeah I asked somebody the place I was referring to was called "The Woods In" At the time it had this front porch. We were outside and this old dude with a beard walked up walked up to us and asked for a 'regular" cigarette, broke the filter off and started telling us story's about the old days, all the whiskey & whores and he missed. He was then gone !

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